Court reporter sues big law firms

A small, Philadelphia-based court reporting firm is challenging some of the biggest names in the legal world, accusing them of a widespread scheme to defraud, deceive -- and photocopy.

Locklear Reporting Services Inc. filed suit Jan. 3 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court against 34 lawyers and law firms, all of them involved in the national latex-glove litigation that has been consolidated for purposes of discovery in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

The suit alleges that the defendants deprived Locklear Reporting of revenue and violated longstanding court rules by repeatedly copying and distributing among themselves notes of testimony taken by the company's stenographers during depositions.

Locklear Reporting had been chosen as the court reporting agency for depositions conducted on behalf of plaintiffs in the latex litigation.

Standard practice in courts across the country requires lawyers and their firms to pay a court reporter for copies of notes of testimony unless the copies are to be used internally, according to the suit.

The company alleges that the firms duplicated documents and computer files to avoid paying for copies at a time when they were under pressure to reduce costs. Locklear Reporting had been charging the firms 92 cents per page, significantly less than its standard rate of $2.15 per page, according to the suit.

Firms named as defendants include some of the biggest and most prestigious in the country, such as Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue of Cleveland, Ohio, which comprises more than 1,200 lawyers.

Others include Kelley Drye & Warren, one of the oldest firms in New York, which represents Johnson & Johnson in the latex litigation; and Alston & Bird, the largest law firm in Atlanta; and Fulbright & Jaworski of Houston, Texas, which takes the latter half of its name from its late partner, Leon Jaworski, the Watergate special prosecutor.

In Philadelphia, firms named as defendants are smaller: Kelley, Jasons, McGuire & Spinelli; Kent & McBride; and Delany & O'Brien. Also a defendant is Buchanan Ingersoll of Pittsburgh, one of the largest firms in the state.

Several firms and lawyers named as defendants did not respond before deadline to requests for comment on the suit.

Thomas L. VanKirk, chief operating officer of Buchanan Ingersoll, said he had reviewed the suit and considers it meritless. The firm has retained outside counsel to defend it in the matter.

Said VanKirk: "I find it to be ridiculous that this reporting service and the lawyers representing them are throwing around such serious allegations against firms that have such a high reputation for ethical behavior."

Locklear Reporting, based in Center City and owned by Rosemary Locklear, employed three people as of late last year, in addition to freelance stenographers.

The suit was among the first filed in Philadelphia's new commerce case management program, which debuted last week in Common Pleas Court. The suit makes allegations that include conspiracy, breach of contract and unjust enrichment.